Today I want to talk a little about our country and the principles it was founded upon. Now if you bear with me I do believe that some of those principles do have an application to health. The 4th of July has special significance for me. The 4th of July is actually my birthday and I don’t know if that is why I feel such a strong sense of patriotism or if it is something else. But to start off, I need to get a little pet peeve off my chest. We do not celebrate the 4th of July because it is the 4th of July but because it is our nation’s Independence Day. And the common thing is to say “Happy 4th of July” or something like that. In my mind that is like wishing someone “Merry 25th of December” which if you are trying to be politically correct may be a good option, but to me that is absolutely ridiculous! I know the “4th of July” has become ingrained in us as a nation but please stop and think why the 4th of July has special meaning. I personally would prefer being wished “Happy Independence Day” over “Happy 4th of July.” To some it may seem trivial what you say, but I believe that words have power and we should call things what they are. And if we didn’t have our independence the 4th of July would just be another day.
Okay, so now that I got that off my chest, let’s talk a little about the principles this nation was founded upon. The biggest I believe is freedom. The king had been infringing upon the unalienable rights (including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) of the people in the colonies, and they felt it their right to throw off a tyrannical government and establish a new government. It is interesting to note that they set up a government with a limited central government and gave more power to the individual state governments. It is also interesting that anything not specifically named in the Constitution as the responsibility of the federal government is left to the states and closer to the people. Unfortunately this has slowly been changed that the federal government now has much more control than it was ever intended to have. And I think it is leading to the people suffering and having their rights infringed.
So what does this have to do with health? Well I believe the same thing is happening in our “healthcare” system (actually it is a sick care system). Whether you like it or not the Affordable Care Act or also known as Obamacare gives the government and big insurance companies more control over what options are readily available to you. They are trying to force you to buy medical insurance whether you want it or not, and then what your insurance covers will likely dictate what treatments you will seek. And my gut feeling is that alternative treatment options are probably going to be covered less and less because they do not make money for those in power.
But ultimately you have the choice when it comes to your health. In fact you are the only one who can make the right decision when it comes to your health. So the purpose of my ramblings today is to get you to take control of your health. Research and find out what options exist and what would be best for you to help you to truly be healthy. And the interesting thing is most of the things that will allow you to live healthy are not going to be covered by your insurance: eat healthy, reduce stress, get adequate sleep, and exercise regularly. These things will help you to be healthy and are things you won’t find in your insurance benefits. One more thing that may be covered is chiropractic care. Unfortunately most insurance however will not cover maintenance or wellness type care which, I think, is the most beneficial to health. They will only cover when there is a specific complaint that is actively being treated, which goes back to that whole sick care system.
So this weekend take some time to think about the freedoms you enjoy and how you can exercise freedom to choose to be healthy!
